Tobu-Kamikita Picnic For Differently-Abled Students

Every summer, the Tobu-Kamikita board of education (which oversees schools in Oirase as well as in the neighboring town of Rokunohe) organizes a special day out for differently-abled students. Taking place in late June, this picnic of sorts allows the students time outside of the classroom to bond with their teachers—as well as with each other. While some of you may recall my critique of the way these students are normally handled in the Japanese school system, this event provides an example of something positive and inclusive that one school board does to make differently-abled students feel more integrated in their schools.
The day started out in front of the local gymnasium where the students were asked to give brief self-introductions. While these introductions were quite simple (name, school, grade level, likes and dislikes), the pressure of speaking in front of a crowd stressed-out at least a few of the students. I’m happy to say, however, that all of my students did quite well. Here we see two of my elementary schoolers with Tsutsumi-San, who organized the event.
The day began in front of the area’s (and allegedly, Japan’s) oldest ginko tree. I was carrying a heavy box full of sketchbooks at the time, so I was lamentably unable to take any photos. After spending a few minutes answering ginko-related trivia questions, we traveled to Icho Sports Park to view my adopted hometown’s most prominent landmark. Remember when I visited Oirase’s Statue of Liberty replica, over a year ago and reported that it sported decidedly manly features? Well, now you can judge for yourself.

Here’s the obligatory group photo. Not pictured: me.

One of my greatest teaching-related triumphs is the story of my relationship with Gou-Kun. Gou was a first grader when I first started teaching at Momoishi Elementary School and no matter what I did, he never seemed to be able to remember who I was. Considering that I’m about a foot taller and at least five shades darker than anyone else in the town, I was always a bit surprised that he couldn’t seem to recall any memory of me. Well, after almost a year of teaching, Gou eventually started to remember me and even got excited (instead of scared) when he encountered me in the hallway or in class. He’s in the second grade now and poses here with his portrait of yours truly (he was supposed to be drawing the Statue of Liberty but you can be sure he wasn’t reprimanded by me). The text reads “Mehan Sensei”.
Here’s Gou-Kun again, this time posing with a drawing of my cat, which is surprisingly accurate considering that my cat lives in Baltimore.
Meanwhile, one of my other students (the one who screams a lot) decided that he couldn’t be bothered with drawing and went off in search of bugs instead. Two of his teachers and even his principal assisted him in the hunt.
Finally, it was lunchtime. The picnic’s organizers had really gone all out to ensure that the meal was a memorable one (my longtime fans will notice the presence of the hunter in the background—he was actually quite indispensable in the planning of the event and obtained most of the foods used). First off, they constructed a long track out of bamboo through which they piped cold water.
They then dumped noodles into the track while the students waited, chopsticks at the ready, to catch them as they raced down the miniature waterslide.
After catching a bundle of noodles, the lucky contestant simply dunked it in a bowl of cold broth and proceeded to slurp. This is actually in keeping with the Japanese dish zarusoba, which is quite popular during the hot summer months.
This smart old dude from the school board, however, figured out the secret: most of the noodles inevitably end up in the basket at the end of the line.
Even though there were more than enough noodles to go around, I soon found that they were only an appetizer. The main meal consisted of yakiniku, with a plethora of meats, fish and vegetables available for grilling, as well as tofu and unadon (barbecued eel served over rice).
After lunch, we all gathered around for a rousing game of smash-the-watermelon-while-wearing-a-blindfold. Ah yes, of course.
Luckily, when watermelons are smashed, everyone wins! All in all, 2006’s Tobu-Kamikita picnic seems to have been a great success.